Monday, February 06, 2017

Kirov District ready to ban Jehovah's Witnesses

The Prosecutor’s Office in Kirovo-Chepetsk (northeastern European
Russia) is getting ready to ban the activities of the Jehovah's
Witnesses (JWs), a religious group with many followers in the world, and
about 400 branches in Russia.“Work that was conducted in the past year jointly with the FSB* and
the Prosecutor's Office has permitted us to identify the leaders and
active participants of the organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses who
engaged in distribution of forbidden extremist literature,” Police chief
Oleg Luchinin said.

According to police, Pinegin Roman, head of the group’s branch in the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk, posted a link on his Odonklassniki* page to an entity considered extremist between 2013 and 2014. The link remained online between 20 and 30 December 2015.

Police also said that religious literature with negative statements
against traditional Christianity was distributed at Witnesses’ religious
gatherings.

According to some witnesses, Roman Pinegin was responsible for the
distribution of destructive religious propaganda fuelling hostility
towards traditional religions and representatives of the Russian
Orthodox Church.

On 16 February 2016, the Kirovo-Chepetsk District Court found Roman
Pinegin guilty of "production and distribution of extremist material"
and was fined 2,000 rubles (US$ 33.5).In some regions of Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced brutal repression from the federal government for years.

The reason for this lies with their objection to military service on
religious ground and their refusal to accept blood donations.

For Russian authorities, this is dangerous and the reason for its harsh reactions.